ASTANA – A total of 1,800 teachers from 43 universities in Kazakhstan will have an opportunity to advance their skills through an enhanced model of teacher education launched by Nazarbayev University (NU) and Finland’s two leading universities, the NU Graduate School of Education (GSE) press service reported on Jan. 15.
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Renowned as one of Europe’s best, the Finnish system incorporates advanced trends, allowing a single subject to combine several knowledge areas. Finnish teachers also hold a special status, granting them the autonomy to select teaching methods and organize the educational process – an approach that will now be imparted to Kazakh educators.
The six-month training program will be conducted both in online and offline formats. During this period, teachers will improve their competencies in trends in modern pedagogical education, student-centered learning, IT competence of teachers, and digital pedagogy.
Additionally, 200 professors and 50 rural school principals will undergo a professional development program in educational leadership. Training on subject-language integrated learning will also be organized for 100 teachers.
“We have just completed a very intensive teacher education project, in which 30 educational programs were changed according to competence-based education in pedagogical universities,” said NU GSE Associate Professor Duishonkul Shamatov.
“Our task within the courses is to create a new adapted syllabus for pedagogical universities. As representatives of one of the best education systems in the world, we share our experience,” noted Irmeli Lignell, a trainer from Häme University of Applied Sciences.
Parallel four-day offline training commenced on Jan. 15 in Astana, Almaty, and Shymkent cities. Additional training in Pavlodar, Turkistan, and Atyrau will last from Jan. 22 to 26.
The project, which involved foreign and Kazakh experts, garnered support from the World Bank and the Kazakh Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
